Most safety belt systems in motor vehicles have a retractor, which is mounted on the motor vehicle below the shoulder height of the passenger to be protected, for example, in the area of the floor of the vehicle. Because of this, it is necessary to provide a deflector (or guide loop) for the belt strap above the height of the passenger's shoulder. Due to the large forces that can occur in the case of an accident, the support structure of such a deflector must always be made of metal, namely steel. A deflector of this type has an upper section with a mounting aperture and a lower section with a belt loop, wherein in the assembled state, a mounting element, generally in the form of a screw, extends through the mounting aperture and the belt strap extends through the belt loop.
Deflectors consisting of a metal core and a plastic element that encompasses some sections of the metal core are known. The plastic element may be an injection molded part produced as one piece with two sections connected to each other by means of a film hinge, that is, by means of a thin and flexible plastic section. A first section of the plastic element is fixed herein directly on the metal core and the second section covers at least the front side of the upper section of the metal core in the fully assembled state. The second section can perform two functions. On the one hand, it covers the upper section of the metal core, and in particular also the head of the mounting screw, which contributes to the safety of the passenger, since any potential impact of the head against the second section made of plastic is considerably less dangerous in any case than an impact against the screw head or the metal core. The second section can also serve to limit the height and width of the belt loop. It is possible in particular to obtain different geometries of the belt loop with the same metal core by utilizing different plastic elements, so that the plastic element serves as adapter.
In the assembled state, the first and second sections of the plastic element are connected to each other as follows: The connection takes place essentially at the uppermost point of the deflector by means of the already mentioned film hinge, and locking elements are provided in the area of the upper edge of the belt loop, by means of which the second section is fixed on the first section. The position of the second section with reference to the first section is thus fully statically defined and the connection is sufficiently stable during normal operation.
The preassembly and final assembly of such a deflector is very easy. During preassembly, the first section of the plastic element is fixed on the metal core. During final assembly, the metal core is first fixedly screwed to the interior structure of the motor vehicle and the second section of the plastic element is then pivoted and engages with the first section.
It has been shown that, in particular when a side curtain airbag is available as an additional protective system in the motor vehicle, the connection between the first and second section of the plastic element cannot be sufficiently stable under unfavorable conditions. If the expanding curtain airbag makes impact at an unfavorable angle against the second section of the plastic element, then the film hinge can tear, whereby the locking elements also lose their counteracting force and the second section becomes detached from the deflector. This is unfavorable from two points of view. On the one hand, the second section can reach quite a high speed during tearing, which is undesireable. On the other hand, the head of the mounting screw is then free, which is precisely what was to be prevented by means of providing the second section of the plastic element.
Based on this, the problem of the invention is to improve a generic deflector in such a way that a tearing of the second section of the plastic element is also reliably prevented under unfavorable circumstances without the need to increase the production or assembly expenditure for the deflector.